Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 10:07:13 AM EDT

Our favorite senator is this month's Newsmax magazine cover boy, having given an "exclusive" interview to the right wing equivalent of the Weekly World News where he bashes George Soros as "anti-American" in between reciting other Administration talking points verbatim and receiving some embarrassingly over-the-top verbal fellatio:

Taking aim at billionaire George Soros, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman calls Soros' views on America "so negative, so critical, and so often anti-American."...

Lieberman says of Soros, "His view of America is so negative. The places he's put his money are, in my opinion, so destructive that it unsettles me."...

Powerful or not, what stands out about Lieberman is his decency. Unlike most politicians, he refuses to engage in partisan bickering to gain political advantage. His courtesy and thoughtfulness, his self-mocking sense of humor, and his adherence to his Jewish faith have given him a glowing image that has helped him throughout his career.

The interview - which is being heavily promoted by the same magazine that ran online ads recently calling Lieberman "America's Senator" - was conducted in the Senator's office by the author of the piece as well as Newsmax editor-in-chief Christopher Ruddy.

Forget for a second the full-blown lunacy emanating from Joe's mouth nowadays, and consider how embarrassing it is for the state of Connecticut to be represented by a senator who would sell an "exclusive" interview to a right-wing hack like this for $12,600.

I wonder what Connecticut's political reporters think about this? I guess if Mark Davis wanted access like this, he should have just dropped a cool $12k into Joe's campaign coffers as well...

Update: For a much-needed, fact-based counterpoint to the continuous assertion of Lieberman's relevance, don't miss this article by Steve Kornacki in today's New York Observer:

In all, Mr. Lieberman’s “This Week” appearance lasted about 11 minutes, and if anything became clear in that time it’s that his influence over the national political debate is waning – a decline that not many foresaw last November, when Connecticut’s voters returned him to the Senate, prompting talk that a new power-broker, coveted equally by both parties, had been born....

But in 2007, embracing Mr. Lieberman’s intransigence is a decided political liability – evidenced most startlingly by a recent poll that found that even 58 percent of Republicans in Iowa want a troop withdrawal in the next six months. When, as he did on Sunday, Mr. Lieberman uses a national television interview to dust off old attacks on the Democratic Party’s foreign policy credentials while at the same time actually declaring that “the surge is working,” it only benefits his former party’s standing with the war-wary public. There are few, if any Democrats, quaking at his threat to endorse a Republican in ’08.

The contribution connection is fascinating -- great work tracking it down.

What a remarkable pair of scumbags. The fact that Lieberman would even grant an interview to someone who manufactured such ridiculous claims about Vince Foster is appalling, much less that he would take money from him. Ugh.

For MLNers who have DailyKos accounts, please recommend the cross-post over at dKos!

... because if Joe has to challenge Soros directly and publicly, it promotes the notion that there's a real debate about what the Jewish-American community believes. In recent years, Joe's worked to make his right-wing views carry the appearance of widespread legitimacy, and this is a real crack in that armor.

Nothing says moving beyond partisanship like giving an exclusive interview to Newsmax. Lieberman will be speaking at the Council of Conservative Citizens and cheering the Roberts court for checking the excesses of Brown v. Board of Education - all in the name of moderation.

This is from an actual conversation with Bill Battles, Joe's campaign coordinator in Torrington, when the Dems were opening up a new office. There was a large crowd of Ned's supporters, because he was due to appear:

Spotting three figures standing several yards down the road, Lorenzo went over to talk to them. It turns out the man was Bill Battle, Sen. Lieberman’s Torrington campaign organizer. Bill was accompanied a woman and a 7 year old. “We would have had more people here, but they are all at the UConn game today,” Bill said.

Good help is so hard to find these days,” commiserated Lorenzo.

“Besides,” Bill continued, “George Soros money is funding Ned’s entire campaign and all that over there,” Bill waved his arms towards the group down the street.

Lorenzo was shocked. “Is this on Joe’s website? Wow!”

Bill looked at Lorenzo like he was thought he was nuts. “No, of course not! This is top secret, and I’m having my cyber-people looking into it right now,” assured Bill.

Lorenzo thought all campaign contributions were open information on the web, but then, he wasn’t a cyber-person. Mentally kicking himself for not arriving earlier when George Soros was passing out his cash, Lorenzo briefly considered asking a person in the crowd if he could borrow some of their Soros money for his lunch. “No, that would be too tacky,” he decided.

Mr. Battles didn't realize he was being interviewed by a sunflower (Lorenzo), but I took all the notes.